Session Title: Rooted Leadership: Working towards Justice with Authenticity and Integrity 

Description: This interactive keynote will invite participants to deepen and clarify their values, strengths, and intentions when doing equity and justice work as a tool for navigating the politics of their work environment and making difficult personal and professional decisions.  

Bio: Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias earned his Ed.D. in International and Multicultural Education with an emphasis in Human Rights Education from the University of San Francisco. He has over 15 years of experience in higher education serving as the former Co-Director of the Cultural Centers at the University of San Francisco, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership Studies at the University of San Francisco; and most recently as Executive Director of Equity, Access, and Belonging at California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Dr. Ale is now a full time organizational development consultant grounded in equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice. He works with universities, community colleges, nonprofits, and unions with a focus on strategic planning, coaching, and training. He is also full time faculty for the Social Justice Training Institute.  

Ale is grounded in the power of critical hope and he is dedicated to challenging himself and others to think critically about liberation and justice through the head, the heart, and the body.

Learn more at: https://www.covarrubiasconsulting.com/

Session Title: I'm Searching For A Real Love,' or, How Complex Personhood & Community Romance Got Me Singing Mary J. Blige at CaCCCHE

Description: Student Affairs, cultural centers, and resource centers always talks about "community," yet we never really define what "community" is, but more so, what we imagine it to be. So how do we romanticize "community?" What does CaCCCHE have to do with "love for community" and "love for, of self?"

Joseph Allen Ruanto-Ramirez, as his students and community members know him as Professor JoJo, is a Queer, Indigenous Asian, refugee scholar-activist. He received his BA in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego, his MA in Sociological Practice from CSU San Marcos, and is about to defend his dissertation in an interfield doctoral program in Cultural Studies - American Studies from Claremont Graduate University. He is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and the Director of the Asian American Studies Program at Southwestern College, while also serving as a Visiting Professor in Asian American Studies at San Diego State University. He also is the Commissioner for Asian & Pacific Islander Relations for the County of San Diego's Human Relations Commission, chair of the San Diego County Office of Education's Asian American & Pasifika Advisory Committee, Chair of the San Diego Unified School District's Ethnic Studies Advisory Board, and member of the Advisory Board for the County of San Diego Office of Education's LGBTQ Curriculum Task Force. His consulting business, Professor JoJo Consulting, is managed by the Asian Business Association of San Diego and works closely with the Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition of San Diego, an coalition of over 50 API organizations, businesses, and nonprofits.